Internal-combustion engine.



I. 0. STEPHENS.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILEp IAN.3, ISIS.

1,212,581; Patented 12111111917.

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A Tron/vm f J. O. STEPHENS.

INTERNAL vCOMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION man JAN. s. |916.

' Patented Jan. 16, 1917.

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Arron/VHS i UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIoE.

JAMES OSBORN STEPHENS, 0F BIG- ISLAND, VIRGINIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD T0 JOHN MARVIN STEPHENS AND ONE-THIRD TO HARRY MocoMAs, WEST VIRGINIA.

RANDOLPH, BOTH or INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

Application 'filed January 3, 1916. Serial N o. 69,904.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JAMES OsoRN' STEPHENS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Big Island, in the county of Bedford and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Internal-Combustion Engines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in internal combustion engines. and more particularly to novel means for conveying the gas to and from the cylinders and it consists in the combinations, constructions Iand arrangements of parts herein described and claimed.

Another object of my invention consists in the, provision of a multiple cylinder V type engine in which is embodied a valve of a vdesign whereby it is adapted to accommodate the functions of the twin cylinders between which it is located.

Another object of the invention consists .in the provision of means insuring the seating of the valve to prevent the escape of the gases from the parts.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following specification, reference beinglhad to the accompanying drawings in whichv Figure 1 is a vertical section of an engine embodying the improved features the view being a section taken substantially on line 1-1 on F'g. 4. Fig. 2 is a detail plan' view showing the current distributer. Fig. 3 is a cross section on line 3-3 on Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a cross section oli line 4-4 on Fig. 1. Fig.- 5 is a detail cross section on line 5 5 on Fig. 1. Fig. f3 is a perspective view of the valve. Fig. 7 is a vertical section of the engine showing a modified form of valve driving gearing.

.In the drawings, 1 represents the crank case which is provided with suitable bearings in which the crank shaft 2 is mounted.

The crank case 1 is formed in a suitable.

manner to receive the oppositely disposed cylinders 3 and 4 which are bolted over openings in the case. Pistons 5 and G are located in the bores of the cylinders and the pistons are connected with the crank 7 through connecting rods 8 and.I 9 which serve to turn the shaft 2 as the pistons 5 and 6 aN reciprocated.

The cylinders 3 and 4 which are preferably cast en bloc are'approximately 120 apart as shown, the cylinder body having a centrally located valve recess 10. which is of an inverted cone-shape. Registering with the valve recess 10 is an annular gas exhaust chamber 11 and an annular' gas inlet chamber 12. The exhaust. chamber 11 has a flanged outlet 13 at one side (see Fig. 4) to which an exhaust pipe is bolted to convey the burnt gases to a suitable place of discharge. vThe gas inlet chamber 12 communicates with a carbureter 14 which forms the gaseous mixture which is supplied to the chamber 12 by the suction caused by the pistons 5 and 6 in a manner presently to be explained. The carbureter gas intake is suitably controlled by a valve 14 as is common in devices of this kind.

It should be noted that in practice the engine may becomposed of multiple twin cylinders and in the event of such a construction, .the exhaust and inlet openings from the respective annular chambers 11 and 12 are connected so that there may be a common outlet and inlet. If the engine consists of a pair of twin cylinders only the exhaust ports 13 are connected to a common union and from thence the gases will be conducted to the atmosphere. Similarly the inlet ports are connected to a common union which is connected to the carbureter located between the pairs of cylinders.

A valve 15 is located in the seat 10 and is provided with a shaft 1G at the top-and a square opening 17 at the bottom. After the valve 15 is placed, the seat 10 is covered by a cap plate 18 which has a water passage with which the water jacket of the cylinders and valve seat communicates. One valve 15 is provided for each pair of cylinders as shown in Figs. 1 and 4.

. The tops of the cylinders 3 and 4 columnnicate with the recess 10 by single ports l) and 20 which serve the combined functions of inlet and exhaust ports. Disposrd diagonally through the upper part of. the valve body is an exhaust passage 2l. The upper end of the passage 21 revolves in the plane of the exhaust chamber l1 while the loucr end revolves in theI plane of the adjacent ends of the cylinde ports 1S.) and 20 as shown in Fig. 1.

Arranged in a plane at right angles to that of the passage 21 and disposed diagonally Within the body of the valve is a gas inlet passage 22. The lower end of' the passage 22 revolves in the plane 'of the chamber 12 and like the upper end ofthelpassage 2l, is 'in constant communication with the adjacent chamber. The upper end 0f the passage 22 revolves in the plane of the adjacent ends of the cylinder ports 19 and 20. The arrangement of the passages l21 and 22 provides intermittent communication of the upper ends of the cylinders 3 and 4 with the exhaust and inlet chambers re- 23 and meshes with a bevel pinion 257 on the shaft 2 of the engine. rllhe engine being of thelY cycle type, the gearing is of a ratio of two to one so that the crank shaft makes two revolutions to oneA of the valve 15. The shaft 23 is supported by a thrust collar 25 which bears against a bearing portion. of the cylinder casting as shown, another bearing 27 being shown near the bottom of the shaft.

The valve 15 will ordinarily remain in contact-with its seat on account of its inverted cone shape but in order to prevent it from movingupwardly which it might do when the engine is severely jarred, a tension device is 'provided to hold the valve to its seat. The tension device consists of a spring 28 which is coiled about the shaft 23 and which engages a cupped washer 29 at the top and a pendent boss 30 at the bottom. The` washer 29 is held in place by a pin which passes through the shaft above the washer while the boss 30 is pendently supported by aims from the bottom of 'the 'valve 15 as shown.

Since the shaft 23 is aiXture so far as its vertical thrust is concerned the tension of the spring 28 will be directed downwardly against the boss 30 and hold the conical Valve 15 to its seat and so prevent the leakage of gases between the valve and the seat.

The compressed charges of gas in the cylinders .are ignited by a spark from the plugs 31 and 32 which are located in the usual high-tension circuit (not shown). The current is distributed tothe lowtension circuit by a current distributer which comprises an arm 33 mounted on the upperend of the valve shaft 16 as'shown in Figs. 2 and 3. A contact roller` 3l is located at one end of another arm which is in turn pivoted to the end of the arm 33. A spring 35 joined to l these two `arms holds the roller 34 in contact with the internal face of a ring 3G of insulating material5 contacts 37 and 38 being .embedded in the ring 36. The roller in contacting one or the other` of the points 37 and -ahead of it will he forced into the ci 33 completes the circuit and causes the. co3.

pressed gaseous charge in the cori-espond.A i engine cylinder to be ignited'in the described.

7 shows 'the engine substantifit is in Fig. 1 but with the cylinder other parts constructed on an impro sign. ln this view the cylinders are z. =o i350 apart. The piston 5 is shown beginning its compressed stroke while piston 6 is exhausting previouslV mvelo charge through the passage 2l of 4.

The valve 15, in this embodiment, rotated by the besf'el pinion 39 which 'with a bevel pinion il) on. the lower a the valve shaft The pinion 39 is ed on one end of a horisental drive sh which is suitably mounted in beain the crank case 1. i large loca on the other end of the shaft -il an1 driven by an intermeshing pinion 43:33am.. is mounted on the crank shaft T he valve is held to its seat by a spring 23 similarly shown in Fig. 1, the spring servie to taire up wear as well as to hold 'the ya .in place. itis also a matter of importar that in the actual manufacture of the device.1 the cylinders7 valve, seat, and gas inlet and exhaust chambers can. be cast in one block this being possible by the peculiar arrangeinent of these diilerent parts.

Having thus described the construction the engine the operation thereof as lows: ily reference to Fig'. l it will be s( that the piston o of cylinder 3 has completed its exhausting stroke. time the passage 21 is in registratie the cylinder port i9 and the burnt ch.. being forced into the chamber 1l Y thence to the atmosphere. The piston 1 compressed a charge of gas which isJ ignited since the electrical circuithae completed bythe engagement of the 3i with the contact point 37 of the di uter. At this 'time the port 2O is clef the wall of the vaive 15 and remains e. until the piston completes its ontw i working stroke. Ait the end of this s the lower end of the passage 2l will l' come into registration 'with 'the port LO when the piston then retiunsg the burnt 11 similarly as explained for the anhin s of the cylinder igainreferring to ton when the piston travels its o; ward or suction stroke after having exhau ed the cylinder of the burnt gases, the p.

'sage 22 will be in registration with the port 12 and gas will be' drawn into the cyliizder. From the foregoing it will be seen that 't inlet and exhaust passages 21 and f into registration with the cylinder j and 2O and duringeach cycle of einer of the respective pistons.

The embodiment of the tension device a 'valve of the shape shown will' insure against objectionable leakage of gases around the ports and passages and while I may make numerous modifications in the device I can still retain the simplicity of the structure and remain within the scope of the claims.

I claim 1. The combination of an enginebody having a vcylinder and a conical valve recess adjacent to the cylinder, and a conical valve inclosed within the cylinder, and having a square opening in its lower smaller end, a shaft connected with the valve having a square upper end fitting into the square opening of the valve and having a fixed -Jvvasher adjacent to the lower end of the valve, a' bearing in the cylinder for said shaft preventing its upward movement, a collar rigidly connected to the valve, said collar being spaced from the lower end of the valve and disposed about the said shaft below said washer, and a compression screw located between the collar and the washer to hold the valve properly seated within the valve recess at all times.

2. In an engine, the combination of a cylinder having aport and a conical valve recess at Onef side communicating withA the port, a piston within the cylinder, a power shaft with which the piston is connected, said valve recess having vertically spaced annular chambers, 'a conical valve seated in the recess and having diagonal passages establishing communication betweenvthe said annular chamber and the cylinder port and located wholly between the ends ofthe valve;

upper and lower shafts projecting vertically and axially from the said valve, ignition means controlled by the upper shaft, and a connection between the lower shaft and the said collar shaft for rotating the said valve.

3. In an engine, the combination of a cylinder having a port and a conical valve reupper and lower shafts projecting vertically and axially from the said valve, ignition means controlled by the upper shaft, and a connection between the lower shaft and the said collar` shaft for rotating the said valve, said lower shaft having a longitudinally adjustable connection with the lower end of the valve, and a spring engaging the valve.

and engaging a portion of the said lower shaft whereby to adjust the valve relatively to the saidshaft and maintain the former properly seated within the valve recess at all times.

' JAMES OSBORN STEPHENS.

Witnesses:

H. O. BLANKENSHIP,

R. A. SCOTT. 

